Madeleine An Autobiography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Madeleine An Autobiography - Essay Example Madeleine lived in a society which would rather abhor social digresses like Madeleine than treating the cause of digression. Being a woman of the late Gilded Age, Madeleine had to suffer from the social problems such as gender discrimination, moral decay, the rapid collapse of the rural economy, etc which were directly related to industrialization and urbanization. Though the Gilded Age experienced the boom of the mechanized urban economy, it was not prepared enough to face the commotions and moral decay that the collapse of the rural decline. Women, of affluent social status, like Madeleine, could hardly bear the insult which the society inflicted upon for them for the moral digression. But the society could do little to protect them from the lust of their male counterparts. Therefore, being forced by circumstances, they choose prostitution to save their own lives.  Being raised with pure Christian teachings in an economically affluent family, Madeleine could have fairly managed a decent way of living for herself. â€Å"She was brought up in a strict heaven-and-hell belief† (Madeleine 34). Even her great-grandfather was quite well-known for his religiosity. He was â€Å"often quick to anger, she said, but he was also quick to repentance, and if he had offended relative or friend he asked his pardon and the pardon of God before he slept.† (Madeleine 45) Though Madeleine’s religious background and teaching were few of psychological strengths which could protect her from being a prostitute. But ironically her family background and religious teachings contribute to the growth of self-reproach, for her juvenile pregnancy, so strongly that she took a wrong decision to run away from Mrs. James’s house in Missouri.  Even if she could remain with her mother in her hometown, she might have received her mother’s proper attention. She needed parental support in her home. She â€Å"needed both her parents† (Madeleine 23).